Introduction to surgical treatment of scars

  Surgical excision is still the main treatment for mature keloid scars or scar contracture, and the commonly used surgical methods are super-reduced scar excision and suture, flap grafting, skin grafting, and skin soft tissue expansion. Super-reduced scar excision and suturing, flap grafting and skin soft tissue expansion are most commonly used.  The therapeutic effect of surgery on keloid scars is certain. In principle, all keloid scars are removed as much as possible, and it is best if the keloid scars can be directly sutured by Z reshaping or other shaping techniques after excision, and for those who cannot directly suture their wounds for repair, the flap approach is superior to skin grafting, and the full-thickness skin grafting approach is superior to edged-thickness skin flap grafting. However, in view of the extremely high recurrence rate after keloid surgery, single surgical treatment is generally not advocated, but rather a combination of radiotherapy, drug injection therapy and surgery.  It should be emphasized that no surgical modality can remove the scar completely, but only maximize the improvement or correction of the harm caused by the scar; moreover, the surgical incision is faced with the occurrence of a new scar after healing, and the evaluation of its therapeutic effect needs to be observed for more than one year.  Direct scar excision with local reshaping: This method is only suitable for patients with narrower and less extensive scar. The advantage is that the wound after scar excision can be directly sutured, and we can ensure that no stitch scar is left after the surgery by using very fine sutures. For straight scars, if there is concern about contracture of the scar after surgery, we perform the “Z” procedure, a very well known surgical technique known as the “plastic surgeon’s best friend”, the purpose and result of which is to The purpose and result is to surgically close a straight scar into a curve.  Staged scar excision: This method is suitable for patients who have wide scars that would make it difficult to close the incision if they were all excised in one operation. For this type of patients, we tend to use skin expander for treatment, but some patients cannot take out a long time to complete the skin expander due to work and study reasons. The principle and method is to first remove a part of the scar within the scar and perform super reduction suture to turn a wider scar into a narrower one; then, the first treatment is finished and the patient can continue his life and work. After at least 6 months, using the elasticity and malleability that human skin has, the skin in the scar area becomes loose again, and at this time, the second Surgery to remove the entire scar.  Scar excision and skin grafting: The scar is first removed and then, depending on the size and shape of the wound, skin is cut from other parts of the body and free grafted. The advantages are simple surgery, short hospital stay, and low cost. The disadvantages are scarring in other parts of the body, dull color of the skin pieces, and obvious secondary contracture.  Skin dilatation: Skin dilatation has now become the most commonly used surgical treatment for scarring and is readily available to a wide range of patients; for the right patient, very good results can be achieved. The skin expander is a sac-like structure made of silicone rubber, which consists of 3 parts: the expansion capsule, the injection pot and the connecting catheter. In the second stage of surgery, the dilator is removed, the scar tissue is excised, and the normal skin at the dilated area is transferred in the direction of the scar, which is used to repair the scar formed after scar removal. Since skin expansion is used to repair the scar by applying the normal skin around the scar, the wound repair has the advantages of consistent color with the defect area and no need to take skin from other parts of the body.